Global Collapse

[Fatty: Doctor, I'm in a huge clothes clearance sale area right now. There are so many clothes racks, but most of them are crooked and lying on the ground, so it's hard to hide. Luckily, I found a fitting room made of tarpaulin in the corner of this clearance sale area, so I'm hiding in it for now. I'm texting from there.]

Gu Mian knew about the clearance sale area that Fatty mentioned; almost every shopping mall had such a space. There were no storefronts, just rows of clothes displayed in the open air, with a "50% off" sign placed on the long racks.

You'll often find unsold, outdated clothes in shopping malls here.

And the equally useless fat man also joined them here.

[Ah Pang: Doctor, you know what? You were pulled into this instance several minutes earlier than me. With that time difference, I thought we were in different instances. When I entered this instance, I felt like the sky was falling...]

Gu Mian didn't think that the fat man's world had collapsed.

He even had the time to change his nickname between sending two messages.

[Little Fatty: Miss Liu Ruyan is so slow! Has she not yet tallied up who else has been pulled into the apartment?]

[Liu Ruyan: If you keep complaining, come out and do the statistics yourself]

People inside the instance can communicate with people outside through group chat. After entering the instance, Gu Mian first checked the surrounding situation and then opened the group chat to ask who else had been pulled into the instance.

Everyone in the group except for the fat guy said they were enjoying themselves outside the instance.

However, not everyone in the apartment was in the group chat. Xie Bi'an, who was bedridden on the fourth floor, and Gui Gu and Hao Laoshi on the first floor were not in the group chat.

Gu Mian had already seen Gui Gu's name on the list provided for the instance, but she didn't know if Hao Laoshi had been pulled into the instance. According to Fatty, he was pulled in with Hao Laoshi, so Hao Laoshi might also have entered the instance.

However, this was just speculation, so Gu Mian asked Liu Ruyan to fulfill her duties as a landlord and check which poor tenants who were not in the group chat had disappeared.

The fat man was morally blackmailed by the "if you can do it, then you do it" comment and stopped speaking in the group.

Soon Liu Ruyan brought the news.

[Liu Ruyan: The patient on the fourth floor is still lying there, but the two new patients on the first floor are both gone.]

[Fatty: Guigu's name is on the dungeon roster, he must have entered the dungeon. Hao Laoshi is missing, he must have been pulled in at the same time as me, right?]

[Liu Ruyan: When I went to the fourth floor to check on Xie Bi'an's situation, I ran into your expired god. He said he watched the fat man and that honest man disappear together.]

Expired God...

This likely refers to Xu Xingcheng, whose abilities were suppressed to the point of disappearing by Gu Mian's wish system. Liu Ruyan has always been quite avant-garde when it comes to mocking people.

[Fatty: So, it seems the four of us in the apartment were the doctor, me, Guigu, and Hao Laoshi. But Guigu and Hao Laoshi aren't in the group chat, so we don't know their situation. Doctor, did you see Miss Anzhitinglan's name? I didn't expect we'd have such a connection with her. When I saw so many familiar faces, I thought we might all be gathered together, so I looked around with a lantern in hand, but I'm the only one nearby. I'm hiding in the fitting room now...]

The message ended abruptly, abruptly.

Gu Mian waited on the group chat page for a while but didn't see the fat man reply to the previous sentence, so she guessed that there was an emergency on his end.

[Liu Ruyan: It seems he's seen the person now.]

Clearly, Liu Ruyan and Gu Mian had the same idea: the fat man might have encountered a human or other humanoid creature.

The abandoned shopping mall has long lost its vitality. If you hear footsteps in this long-abandoned building in the middle of the night, you've probably encountered a ghost.

Of course, the fat man remembered that besides the ghosts, there were other players in the dungeon.

But the noise coming from outside the fitting room was strange; it didn't sound like human footsteps. The mall was also very spacious, making the outside sounds echo somewhat distorted.

"rustle--"

He heard an extremely strange friction sound coming from outside, the frequency of which was like someone walking, but the person moving seemed unable to lift their feet, and each step made the shoes drag and make a sound of intimate contact with the ground.

"rustle--"

At first, the sound was quite far away and intermittent. When the fat man first heard it, he thought he was just hallucinating because he was too nervous.

Until the sound grew louder and closer.

The place was large and empty, and the rustling sound echoed continuously in the mall, making it impossible for the fat man to tell which direction it was coming from.

The tarpaulins on all four sides isolated the fat man from the dark outside world, shielding him from the terrifying unknown. However, the protective walls that enveloped him also blocked his senses, preventing him from knowing what was outside or how close the danger was.

The fat man felt that the sound was very close, as if it had already arrived at the door of the fitting room, but the next second it became even closer, and every step felt like stepping on the threshold of the fitting room.

The most dangerous thing is that the fat man's "safe house" is not completely sealed off.

The surrounding area was completely covered with tarpaulins, but the roof was open.

The person who built the fitting room probably thought that no one would be so immoral as to climb up and watch people change clothes, so they didn't enclose the area above.

But ghosts don't care about morality; their forte is sneaking around in places where they shouldn't be.

The fat man looked up at the square ceiling and tried to cover up the lantern in his hand.

What he's holding is an "Eternal Lamp," a reward for first place in the dragon boat race.

[Eternal Light]

[Description: This lantern emits a soft blue glow. It is fragile; please handle it with care.]

[Function: It always emits a ghostly blue light, illuminating a radius of twenty meters. Ghosts cannot see the light from this lamp, but invisible ghosts will become visible immediately upon entering the illuminated area.]

The ghost couldn't see the light from the lantern in his hand, but he still nervously covered half of the lantern.

In addition, he possesses the "Joker" ability, which significantly reduces his presence between 8 PM and 3 AM, making him less likely to be detected by ghosts. Judging from the darkness in the mall, he should be within the Joker's active timeframe. With the Joker, even if a ghost were to sneak into a fitting room to change clothes right now, it might not even notice the fat man crammed inside.

Although it may not cause physical harm, it will still have a psychological impact, since nobody likes to watch a ghost change clothes.

The Joker is the reward for the winner of the Werewolf faction in the "Close Your Eyes" dungeon. Winning in that dungeon is extremely difficult for the Werewolves; they only managed to win because the opposing faction had several actors, including Gu Mian, who was essentially a "actor" (someone who intentionally sabotages the game). Therefore, this item is very rare.

Despite its rarity, Gu Mian had no use for it, so she tossed it to the frail fat man.

Both of these are very powerful and rare special items. Obtaining either one can greatly increase the survival rate in dungeons, and the fat man has two that can be used together.

However, these two special items that players dream of have been gathering dust in his inventory for a long time - before, he was always with Gu Mian when he entered the dungeon, so there was no need to take out special items to protect himself.

But now he's in use of it, which is really unfortunate.

The fat man felt that his luck had been tainted by Gu Mian lately, and he resolved to help old ladies cross the street more often to accumulate good karma, even though there weren't many old ladies to be found in this world these days...

Just as he was huddled in the dimly lit fitting room lamenting his ill-fated life, a new situation arose outside.

He heard the footsteps, which were almost at the door, suddenly stop.

The fat man subconsciously looked up at the exposed square opening above. Having been through so many dungeons, he had long since learned from experience—if a ghost that he couldn't see suddenly went silent, it had most likely found him.

The only place where he could have his first friendly meeting with the ghost was the opening above his head.

The fat man was already mentally prepared, so he wouldn't be surprised even if he looked up and saw half a ghostly face peeking in.

but.

There is no ghost face above.

It's not up there... it can't be already behind me, can it...?

In that instant, the fat man felt as if his lower body had been buried in the ground.

But before he could savor his new coffin, an even louder noise came from afar.

A new, heavy, hurried footstep approached, thumping loudly on the ground. It didn't sound like the same creature as the strange scraping sound from before.

"Are there elephants in this dungeon?" the fat man began to wonder.

As the elephant approached, the eerie rubbing sound that had just disappeared began to reappear, but instead of getting closer, the sound seemed to be moving further away, as if it were avoiding the approaching "elephant."

After realizing this, the fat man felt as if his entire body had been buried.

The thing in front was already terrifying, but it was scared away by the one that came later. How scary must the one that came later be?

I don't know if my "Joker" hand will be able to fool everyone.

Reality quickly revealed the answer to the fat man—just as he was praying he wouldn't be discovered, the fitting room door was slammed open.

The fat man looked up in horror and saw a huge figure blocking the doorway.

By the light of the ever-burning lamp, he looked at the figure before him, staring wide-eyed at the empty face, and uttered, "Horse—"

But before the last word could finish, the petite, chubby man was suddenly lifted up, and the sound that was about to come out of his throat turned into a scream.

[Mom's Calling Device (lv1)]

[Introduction: Still struggling to make your food taste inedible? Still frustrated because you can't find what you're looking for? Still crying because you got beaten up but couldn't beat the other person? Mom's Caller solves all your troubles!]

[Function: Shouting "Mom!" over the walkie-talkie summons a personal "Mom" to descend from the sky and solve your problems]

[Additional information: "Mom's" patience is limited; she can only be summoned once a day and will only stay for a maximum of half an hour. "Mom's" abilities are also limited; she can only solve problems within her power. After solving your problem, "Mom" will immediately leave in disgust.]

[Upgrade Requirements: You will level up once for each 'Perfect Score Report Card' you obtain, with a maximum level of ten (Perfect Score Report Cards can be obtained from various exam-type dungeons)]

Gu Mian idly twirled the walkie-talkie in the bathroom. It was a special item he had obtained from an NPC named "Wang Napao." He hadn't brought the flashlight with him when he entered the dungeon, but he had the walkie-talkie in his pocket.

Upon discovering that she possessed the [Mom Summoner], Gu Mian immediately summoned her "Mom" to help her find the fat man outside.

The [Mom Summoner] he possesses has now been upgraded to [Mom Summoner (lv2)], having been upgraded by one level.

The upgraded "Mom" has gained a new feature: "Midnight Fierce Mom".

When you summon "Mom" after midnight, "Mom" will be surrounded by an aura of rage more terrifying than any ghost, which would make even ghosts retreat in fear.

The specific manifestations of anger are as follows:

"Why aren't you asleep yet, it's so late!"

"All you ever do is play! Why aren't you this serious about studying!"

"Still up so late, hanging out with your buddies? Let's see what time you get up tomorrow!"

Gu Mian heard her mother's angry roar and footsteps outside the toilet, and saw a flickering light shining in the hallway outside the door.

He went to the door and looked outside. He saw his mother, who was burly and two meters tall, with a piece of white paper with the word "Mom" written on it pasted on her face, carrying a petite figure under her arm as she walked towards him.

The figure was none other than Fatty, one of Gu Mian's cronies. (End of Chapter)